


Fight Quest

by TrippingHazard



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Gen, Very Mild Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2015-09-29
Packaged: 2018-04-23 23:26:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4896343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrippingHazard/pseuds/TrippingHazard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The minibots go on a quest to find out who would win in a fight: Ultra Magnus or Thunderclash?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fight Quest

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote pretty much all of this on my phone during my lunch break at work, which hopefully accounts for any poor spelling and bad editing. Anyway, the intention is for this to be the set-up for a slightly longer story, which may or may not ever get written because I am terrible at finishing things.

"Remember how you said Ultra Magnus is really good at fighting?"

"That's still not quite what I... you know what? Never mind. Continue."

"And you know how Thunderclash is super famous for being good at fighting?"

"And everything else, yes. What's your point?"

Tailgate leaned across the bar and dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "I was in medbay for a checkup and Mags was there talking to Thunderclash and I overheard them talking about a sparring match!"

Swerve dropped the glass he was cleaning. He reached across the counter and dragged Tailgate closer. "When? Where? I have to know!"

"The gym on deck twelve! In two hours!"

"We have to be watching this. This is going to be so great. Hey, we could start a betting pool. Who do you think will win?"

"Definitely Magnus," Tailgate said instantly, "Especially since Thunderclash has been in a coma for three months."

"Maybe, but Thunderclash is... you know, Thunderclash. Anyway, let's spread the word!"

"Hang on, you have to keep this a secret! You promised!"

Swerve did seem to vaguely recall Tailgate starting the conversation by saying "If I tell you something will you promise not to tell anyone?" but that had been a whole three minutes ago.

"Why, though?" he complained.

"Well, if everyone knows then everyone is gonna turn up to watch, and you know Magnus. He'd tell everyone off for being nosy then call off the fight. He sounded pretty reluctant about it in the first place, Thunderclash had to sweet talk him into it."

Swerve went quiet, looking thoughtful as he picked up the glass he'd dropped earlier and wiped it over again. "So," he said slowly, "Only a small number can go, and we need a good excuse to be there so Mags doesn't get stage fright."

"We should bring Rewind!"

"Yeah! Good thinking, Tailgate. That way he can record it for everyone else."

"Well, I just meant because he's our friend, but that too."

"But we still need an excuse to be there. Maybe Rewind could get Chromedome to help? He's been practising those metallikato moves Skids taught him."

"Good thinking. We'd just need to get someone he could pretend to be sparring against."

In unison, the two minibots turned their heads towards Cyclonus, who had entered the bar with Tailgate and had been quietly nursing a glass of engex ever since.

Despite his apparent disinterest he seemed to have been following the conversation, because he immediately said "Absolutely not," without even looking up.

Tailgate's face fell, and he dropped his head into his hands, his visor narrowed in thought.

"Hey, could you ask Getaway?" Swerve asked.

"Oh! Maybe. If he's not busy. I'll ask him." Tailgate raised one hand to his comm, but Cyclonus suddenly put out a hand to stop him.

"No need. I will help."

"Really?" Tailgate asked, looking genuinely surprised, "This is going to be so great, thank you!"

Cyclonus merely nodded and scowled into his drink. Swerve grinned to himself. Tailgate might be too naïve to play his two friends against each other, but Swerve wasn't above making use of their obvious rivalry.

\---

The five of them turned up at the gym an hour later, wanting to be there and set up by the time Ultra Magnus and Thunderclash arrived.

The gym was massive, intended for combat training. It was even next door to the firing range. There were racks of training weapons along the back wall, and there were already a couple of 'bots inexpertly trading blows with blunt practice swords in the far corner.

"How did you get _him_ to agree to this?" Chromedome whispered to Rewind, tilting his head towards Cyclonus.

"I think Swerve must have blackmailed him somehow. He looks like he's about to murder someone, right?"

"I just hope it's not me."

Tailgate and Swerve were already settling down against the wall, and Cyclonus has left his massive greatsword in Tailgate's care. Chromedome was somewhat relieved that he didn't intend to carry it into their sparring match.

"Well, I'll be right here recording. If he does kill you, your death will not go unpunished."

"Thanks, love." Chromedome's visor narrowed with quiet laughter.

Rewind gave him a thumbs up then joined Swerve and Tailgate. Cyclonus marched over carrying two of the practice swords, and tossed one to Chromedome with slightly more force than strictly necessary.

"I thought were were just doing some fake hand to hand stuff for show?" He asked as he fumbled to catch the sword.

"If we have to be here you may as well learn something," Cyclonus said tersely.

Chromedome reluctantly followed him out into one of the rings marked on the floor and took up a fighting stance. Cyclonus took one look at him and dropped out of his own stance. "Wrong. Too many holes in your defence." H e stalked over and directed Chromedome to stand differently, hold his arms differently, distribute his weight differently. Eventually he was satisfied, and went back to his own side of the ring.

Their first bout lasted about five seconds, and ended with Chromedome's sword flying out of the ring and bouncing off the wall near Swerve's head. Chromedome thought he heard some muffled laughter from the minibots.

"Your stance is wrong again. And keep your sword between yourself and the enemy, it won't do you any good if you're swinging it around behind your head."

Chromedome had been repeatedly soundly defeated and lectured about proper stance for about half an hour before the gym doors slid open again, and Thunderclash's voice floated through ahead of him. Rewind subtly recorded their entrance.

"Really, Ultra Magnus, I can't think of anyone better to test my rusty skills against."

Ultra Magnus followed him in, looking vaguely... embarrassed? In fact, Rewind hadn't seen that expression on his face since the first time he had met Thunderclash, when the war hero had complimented his essay about fonts or something.

The former enforcer looked around the gym, seeming unhappy at the fact that it was already occupied, but he didn't voice his concerns. Rewind assumed he was trying to stay on Thunderclash's good side, since there weren't many other people in the universe willing to spend several hours discussing the significance of punctuation with him.

Tailgate even had the cheek to wave at Ultra Magnus before pretending to be engrossed in watching Cyclonus trounce Chromedome for the fiftieth time, but the others kept their eyes averted, trying not to act suspiciously.

The two huge Autobots claimed the largest of the fighting rings and squared off against each other.

Rewind turned to watch, the little light on his camera blinking on.

\---

Swerve's bar was packed. Movie night usually drew in a moderate crowd, but word had spread about tonight's pre-film feature, and half the crew had turned up.

Rewind had passed a data stick to Bluestreak, who had taken it almost reverently, and the assistant bartender was now busily setting up the projector.

As the trickle of people entering the bar late slowed to a stop, Bluestreak gave Swerve a thumbs up across the room, and Swerve stood up in his chair.

“Ok, listen up everyone!” he shouted, “We’re about to start the viewing! Everyone find a seat!”

He waited a moment for the hubbub to die down, then continued. “Tonight, we find out the answer to a question you didn't know you needed answered! Who would win in a fight? Ultra Magnus, or Thunderclash?”

The room burst into applause and cheering, and Bluestreak dimmed the lights. Silence fell as the projector lit up the screen.

_There was a brief shot of Cyclonus forcing Chromedome out of their ring with a steady stream of sword blows he couldn't keep up with, then Tailgate’s voice whispered “they’re here!” from off camera._

_ The camera swung to the right and followed Ultra Magnus and Thunderclash as they entered the circle marked on the floor. They spoke a few words to each other, which Rewind’s microphone hadn't managed to pick up, then moved to opposite ends of the ring, taking up fighting stances. _

_ Thunderclash looked casual and confident, his stance loose and relaxed. Ultra Magnus looked like he was concentrating for all he was worth. _

_ For a while, they both waited for the other to make the first move, and then Ultra Magnus suddenly charged Thunderclash, ducking under a quick jab and skidding to a halt just behind him. He kicked Thunderclash in the back of his knee, and the war hero fell forwards, only to roll to his feet and spin, turning his momentum into a kick which Ultra Magnus had to dodge, interrupting his own follow up attack... _

And then a screen dissolved into static. The room filled with loud complaints and everyone turned to shout at Bluestreak, the person in charge of the projector.

The lights suddenly turned back on to reveal Ultra Magnus standing at the projector, carefully dislodging Rewind’s memory stick with one hand, the other hand firmly planted on Bluestreak’s shoulder to keep him out of the way. The assistant bartender looked terrified.

“I am confiscating this,” Ultra Magnus stated, his voice carrying easily over the frantic whispering and shuffling from the assorted hundred or so people in the room, “Ship regulations categorise gymnasiums as semi-private areas, which makes it an offence to film someone inside a gymnasium without their permission.”

An awkward silence descended as everyone realised that _someone_ was in _trouble_.

“Rewind, Swerve. Report to my office. Everyone else… I recommend you disperse.”

“I'm not the one who recorded it!” Swerve protested loudly from across the room. Rewind shot him a dirty look, and Ultra Magnus pinned him with a glare.

“Perhaps not, but I strongly suspect you were the mastermind of this little endeavour.”

“You don’t have any proof!”

“So you deny that you had a hand in this?”

Swerve opened his mouth to lie, but couldn't quite bring himself to do so while caught in the full force of Magnus' glare. He huffed and clambered off his chair, then dejectedly followed Rewind and Ultra Magnus out of the room.

After the door hissed closed behind them, someone in the crowd said “Well, that went well.”

“At least we know who would win in a fight between Cyclonus and Chromedome,” Skids said loudly, which was met with a round of sniggering.

“You know what I'd like to know?” Jackpot slurred from the end of the bar, where he was half leaning on Mainframe for support, jabbing a mostly empty glass of engex in Skids' direction, “Who would win in a fight between Skids and Getaway?”

“You want to know?” Skids crossed his arms across his chest, grinning, and Getaway suddenly appeared beside him out of nowhere. “I'm sure that could be arranged, if you make it worth our while…”

 

 


End file.
